Two months after Lord President Penny Mordaunt won critical acclaim as the first woman in history to wear the Sword of State at a coronation, another ceremonial sword is about to take center stage.

This time it is the mighty Elizabeth Sword and it will be presented to King Charles at his Scottish coronation by Scottish Olympian Katherine Grainger.

Grainger, who rowed a gold medal at the London 2012, is a good choice, as the Elizabeth sword is more than twice as heavy as the Sword of State and four inches longer. Muscle power comes in handy at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Commissioned at the end of 2022, with the approval of the Scottish Government at a cost of £22,000, the sword is named after the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The sword’s designer, Mark Dennis, 73, of St Andrews, recently quipped, “There’s a Boadicea fashion with these stout women carrying big swords.”

It was on Saturday 6 May that Mrs Mordaunt, Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Privy Council, became the star of the King’s coronation when she carried the sword, a symbol of the King’s authority, into Westminster Abbey.

Afterwards, they revealed that she took a “couple of painkillers” to get through the ceremony, holding the sword at a right angle to her body for 51 minutes before swapping it for the jeweled sacrificial sword, which is the protection of the good. symbolizes. and evil.

“I wasn’t in the gym for six months before that,” she told the BBC, but added: “You want to make sure you’re in good shape and I’ve taken a few painkillers beforehand just to make sure be that i was going to be alright.

“We got through it, only half the ceremony I had to carry the sword of state, that is the really heavy one and I exchanged it for the very exquisite jeweled sacrificial sword which is much lighter.”

Created in 1678, the Sword of State is made of steel and silver-gilt with a scabbard of wood, velvet and silver-gilt. It has a wide, straight, flat, double-edged steel blade with an etched decoration.

The silver-gilt hilt is in the shape of a crucifix – the quillons (crusader) are in the form of a rampant lion and unicorn, while there is a fleur-de-lis on the front of the quillon block and a Tudor rose on the back.

The wooden scabbard is lined with velvet with applied silver-gilt emblems such as a rose, thistle, harp and fleur-de-lis, with a portcullis, royal lions and the coat of arms of William III.

The sword is currently in the Tower of London along with the rest of the regalia. It was used by the late Queen for events such as the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969 and the VE Day service at St Paul’s Cathedral in 1995.

The Elizabeth sword, on the other hand, is the most modern of the ceremonial swords in a tradition dating back to the 19th century – the original sword given to James IV in 1507 can no longer be used due to its fragile condition.

It will be presented to the King, along with the Crown and Sceptre, the Crown Jewels of Scotland – the oldest Crown Jewels in Britain – during what is formally known as the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication.

Thereafter, the jewels will be returned to the care of Historic Environment Scotland. They are normally displayed in Edinburgh Castle.

Designed by former Ormond Pursuivant of Arms Mark Dennis and crafted by a number of expert Scottish craftsmen, the sword has a Lewisian gneiss pommel and a scabbard made from Perthshire oak.

The royal motto is engraved on one side of the blade: ‘In my defenses God defend me’; on the other hand the motto of the Order of the Thistle ‘Nemo me impune lacessit’, which means no one harasses me with impunity.

Three other swords were at Westminster Abbey during the coronation procession: the Sword of Temporal Justice, signifying the monarch’s role as head of the armed forces, borne by General Lord Houghton of Richmond; the Sword of Mental Justice, meaning the Monarch as Defender of the Faith, borne by General Lord Richards of Herstmonceux; and the Sword of Mercy of Curtana, which has a blunt tip, symbolizing the mercy of the Sovereign, carried by Air Marshal, the Lord Peach.

The swords were first used at the coronation of King Charles I in 1626, and the steel blades date back to the sixteenth century, with early 17th century gilt iron hilts and wire-bound hilts.